Need help! Scope issues!

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Please help. I thought that as far as medications went, the ONLY thing a CNA can do is to give reminders, as in, "It's 2:00, time to take X." I thought that handling them in any way is outside our scope. Even if the family has placed them into a sorter box, a CNA taking out the pills and handing them to the client is outside scope. Am I wrong about that?

Specializes in None yet..
As a CNA for Home Care our company has it in place that we CNA can give meds from a med box as long as they were filled by a nurse or family member. I have also given nubulizer treatments as well if they are part of the care plan. We also document as well when we do give any meds.

I have run in situations where the family members do not understand the med box and they just have meds in the original pharmacy containers and want me to give grandma her anibiotic with breakfast. Nope sorry won't do it. Or I had it once i had a client that needed a pain pill. Would not give it because it was not set up. A neighbor had to come and be on the phone with wife and ask which one it was and give it to him. I would not give him the med and let work know about it. They agreed with me 100%

You are so smart! My instructors warned me about walking this tightrope and I admire you for doing it well. We can get into so many dicey situations in home care. Stay on the right path!

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You are so smart! My instructors warned me about walking this tightrope and I admire you for doing it well. We can get into so many dicey situations in home care. Stay on the right path!

Thanks Jess. Yes situations like this are hard because I am sure the family member are saying just do it are you an idiot or something and can not figure it out to just go in the pill bottle and give it to them. Which I am not I deal with my sons meds all the time which he is on 3 types with one having to take 2 different times a day. But they just don't understand why that is beyond us to be able to do it. I think partly because many family members dealing with home care see us as nurses and can not comperheand why we can't just give out meds.

Even though a CNA certificate is not maybe valued as much as a nursing degree and licence, I still worked hard for that certification and am not willing to take chances with it or my job.

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Specializes in hospice.
Even though a CNA certificate is not maybe valued as much as a nursing degree and licence, I still worked hard for that certification and am not willing to take chances with it or my job.

Exactly. This is the only job I have and I kinda need to keep it! Plus, if I gave a med and acted outside my scope, even on orders from my employer, do you think that employer will be riding in to defend me when I get hauled before the BON? No way Jose. So we need to be aware and vigilant about our scope, because we are the only ones who will defend our certification and ability make a living.

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Specializes in hospice.

Meh. Hope I didn't just cost myself my job. Three weeks later, same case. Had to email my supervisor. The patient's decline has made the idea that we're assisting with self administration a farce. I found relevant state regulatory info to back me up, and framed my concern as protection of the company and the CNAs, but now I'm the squeaky wheel. :(

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Just so I am understanding the situation that you are in clearly. You have a client that has declined in health and can not self medicate anymore and now it is a situation where you would have to administer the meds to them.

I can't remember where you work. It was working with Hospice wasn't it? In my opinion you should not be getting into trouble because you are concerned over if administering medication as a CNA is legal or not. Your company should be able to clearly tell you the stipulations of theirs and the states regulations on this. It might be that as long as a nurse or a family member put the meds in a weely box it would be ok for you to administer those for them. But if those regulations are not in place for your state or it is not clearly stated in your work regulations then I am with you and I would not be wanting to administer meds.

In my agency I am allowed to turn down cases that I do not feel comfortable working with and I don't get into trouble over it. If you can not get clear answers, and you feel you are doing something wrong and shadey then I would ask the company if you can get reasigned to another case. If they buck you on it then I would think I would not be so concerned over leaving that company and finding somewhere else to work.

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